THE SKY ABOVE THE PORTEGO

At the heart of the Ospedale Civile in Venice, The Sky Above the Portego is a site-specific installation by AMDL Circle, led by Michele De Lucchi. Part of the project “Nel segno della cura” (In the Name of Care), promoted by the Fondazione Scuola Grande di San Marco in collaboration with Fondaco Italia, the work explores architecture’s potential to foster connection and emotional resonance in spaces dedicated to healing.
Suspended within the hospital’s historic portego, the architectural sculpture redefines the room as a perceptual pause — a threshold between body and spirit, present and possibility. The installation stems from the experience of the patient, who, in a state of fragility, seeks a glimpse beyond the walls—a symbolic opening toward the sky and the idea of a different future.
The work is rendered in an intense shade of blue, the result of chromatic research by Ottorino De Lucchi, a painter and chemist whose practice merges scientific knowledge with artistic sensitivity.
In ideal dialogue with the installation is the original model of Le Corbusier’s design for a new hospital in Venice. Conceived between 1963 and 1970 but never built, the visionary project — imagined as a horizontal organism integrating urban pathways, medical facilities and wards — remains a powerful example of hospital architecture conceived as a living part of the city and landscape.